Directory_and_Chronicle_1896 — Page 184

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TREATY BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND JAPAN

Done at London, in duplicate, this sixteenth day of the seventh month of the twenty-seventh year of Meiji.

[L.S.]

KIMBERLEY.

[L.S.] AOKI.

PROTOCOL

The Government of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India and the Government of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, deeming it advisable in the interests of both countries to regulate certain special matters of mutual concern, apart from the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation signed this day have, through their respective Plenipotentiaries, agreed upon the following stipula- tions:-

But

1.-It is agreed by the Contracting Parties that one month after the exchange of the ratifications of the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation signed this day, the Import Tariff hereunto annexed shall, subject to the provisions of Article XXIII. of the Treaty of 1858 at present subsisting between the Contracting Parties, as long as the said Treaty romains in force and thereafter, subject to the provisions of Articles V. and XV. of the Treaty signed this day, be applicable to the articles. therein enumerated, being the growth, produce, or manufacture of the dominions and possessions of Her Britannic Majesty, upon importation into Japan. nothing contained in this Protocol, or the Tariff hereunto annexed, shall be held to limit or qualify the right of the Japanese Government to restrict or to prohibit the importation of adulterated drugs, medicines, food, or beverages; indecent or obscene prints; paintings, books, cards, lithographic or other engravings, photographs, or any other indecent or obscene articles; articles in violation of patent, trade-mark, or copy-right laws of Japan; or any other article which for sanitary reasons, or in view of public security or morals, might offer any danger.

The ad valorem duties established by the said Tariff shall, so far as may be deemed practicable, be converted into specific duties by a supplementary Convention, which shall be concluded between the two Governments within six months from the date of this Protocol; the medium prices, as shown by the Japanese Customs Returns during the six calendar months preceding the date of the present Protocol, with the addition of the cost of insurance and transportation from the place of purchase, production or fabrication, to the port of discharge, as well as commission, if any, shall be taken as the basis for such conversion.

In the event of the

Supplementary Convention not having come into force at the expiration of the period for the said Tariff to take effect, ad valorem duties in conformity with the rule recited at the end of the said Tariff shall, in the meantime, be levied.

In respect of articles not enumerated in the said Tariff, the General Statutory Tariff of Japan for the time being in force shall, from the same time, apply, subject, as aforesaid, to the provisions of Article XXIII. of the Treaty of 1858 and Articles V. and XV. of the Treaty signed this day respectively.

From the date the Tariffs aforesaid take effect, the Import tariff now in opera- tion in Japan in respect of goods and merchandize imported into Japan by British subjects shall cease to be binding.

In all other respects the stipulations of the existing Treaties and Conventions shall be maintained unconditionally until the time when the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation signed this day comes into force.

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2. The Japanese Government, pending the opening of the country to British subjects, agrees to extend the existing passport system in such a manner as to allow British subjects, on the production of a certificate of recommendation from the British Representative in Tokyo, or from any of Her Majesty's Consuls at the open ports in Japan, to obtain upon application passports available for any part of the